National Public Radio featuered Chris Nowinski in a powerful interview yesterday that provides an in-depth recounting of how we’ve learned about the devasting impact of multiple concussions, which can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive brain disorder marked by the degeneration of brain tissue and a range of behavioral problems, including memory loss, impulse control, depression, and suicide.

Nowinski took on this topic because of his own experiences:

Nowinski knows [the impact of concussions] first-hand. After playing football at Harvard, he became a professional wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment. His over-the-top personality and penchant for referencing his Ivy pedigree made him a superstar in the ring. In 2002, he was named the “Newcomer of the Year” by RAW Magazine and became the youngest male Hardcore Champion in WWE history.

But Nowicki’s wrestling career was cut short in 2003, after he suffered at least six concussions.

“[After one] I remember looking up at the ceiling and I had no idea where I was,” Nowinski tells Fresh Air’s Dave Davies. “I had no idea what we were doing and I couldn’t remember what was supposed to happen next. It’s scary to be with 5,000 fans and become completely distracted.”

Nowinski started reading everything he could about head injuries. He soon realized concussions were a far bigger crisis than anyone realized. In 2006, his book Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis, helped put the concussion issue on the NFL’s radar, after he profiled several players who exhibited symptoms of neurological damage after their playing careers ended.

The interview is compelling because it is at once a detective story (involving the brains of deceased football players), a recounting of the impact of CTE (as Nowinski puts it, on memory, cognition, emotion, and mood), a portrayal of how society deals with neurological disorders (and the NFL going from denying and downplaying to now starting to address the problem), and his own personal story.

Nowinski is so articulate in explaining all these complexities that it’s just great listening. I’ve embedded the interview below.

2 Responses to Football, Concussions, and Chris Nowinski

Nowiski repeatedly states he was kicked in the chin and everything turned oranage. Cantu stated in congressional testimony that jaw/chin trauma is part of the concussion problem. If so, protecting this area of the face and head should be included in any prevention protocol.http://www.mahercor.com

Up in Canada the talk is of of Pittsburgh PenguinSydney Crosby, who has been out for a while with a concussion. At least it’s making both the News and Sports pages.

A friend of mine suffered a concussion before Christmas, and is just now getting most of her faculties back. Smell and taste though appear to be long gone. The frustration has been that from the Emergency room to specialists, there seems to be a feeling that either the concussion is not a big deal, or that once it has happened you should just give up hope of a complete recovery.

Consequently you wind up relying on anecdotal reports of possible outcomes, and treatments. Since conventional medicine seems disinterested we’re planning to give Chinese medicine and acupuncture a try.

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Neuroanthropology. Sometimes it’s straight-up neuroscience, sometimes it’s all anthropology, most of the time it’s somewhere in the middle. Greg is the cultural guy, now interested in bio stuff. Daniel is the bio guy, now interested in cultural stuff. Or, to say it differently, Greg does capoiera, mixed martial arts, and rugby. Daniel does alcohol, drugs, and video games. Two very different styles of recreation.